Greece's 'golden generation'
Sunday, July 4, 2004
Article summary
The man who led Greece to the final of the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship says he is unsurprised by the current side's success.
Article body
Current stars
Ioannis Kollias's side, which featured UEFA EURO 2004™ heroes Traianos Dellas, Georgios Karagounis, Ioannis Goumas, Vassilios Lakis and Angelos Basinas, reached the final of the U21 tournament in Bucharest only to lose 1-0 to a Spain team including Real Madrid CF stars Guti and Míchel Salgado.
Defensive maestros
"They were a very talented lot and they knew how to play very well together," Kollias told euro2004.com, as he reflected on his protégés' progress to the UEFA European Championship final, where they will take on hosts Portugal. "Their defensive play was fit for a seminar."
Fourth final
The 1998 final was the fourth in a UEFA competition to be contested by a Greece side but to date they have yet to emerge triumphant. Greece had previously lost the final of the 1970 UEFA Under-23 Challenge Cup 5-1 against Yugoslavia, the 1985 UEFA European Under-16 Championship 4-0 to the Soviet Union, and the 1988 European U21 Championship 3-0 on aggregate against France.
Team spirit
However, Kollias believes the team spirit from the 1998 squad has played a key part in propelling Otto Rehhagel's men forward. With Stylianos Venetidis and Konstantinos Katsouranis also involved in the U21s' run to the final at the Ghencea stadium, Kollias added: "They were all very close and that has helped them in the senior squad."
